Punch aligning implement



Feb. 21, 1950 J, PENRQD 2,498,114

PUNCH ALIGNING IMPLEMENT Filed July 23, 1946 17 --16 2 w /i l? i:l ?l 241 w I NVENTOR. Q? E. ENRQP ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES T ENT OiFTF- ECE 3 (llaims.

This invention has'for its object the providing of an implement for facilitating the aligning to true position :of anyoneof the several punches Whichare embodied with and which form a part of the conventional die of a machine of the power press type.

i-Byithe term"die, as used herein, is meant the conventional assembly which consists of a base plate adapted to rest on the bolster of the machine, and from said' base plate rise leader pins whose upper portions are slidingly received in bearings therefor in a top plate that is adapted to be fastened to the ram of the machine. On said base plate is a die block with holes spaced therein, and on the underside of said top plate is a plate-like member referred to as a pad, and in this pad. the punches are retained.

In the procedure of making ready 2. die of the above description, the operator, preliminarily to securing the said pad to the said top plate, must see to it that each of the punches (secured, as it is, :in a socket therefor in the pad) is in precise axial alignment iso .as-to coincide with the axial alignment of the hole therefor in the die block, when the die will have been finally installed and is in readiness for the machine to be operated.

And again, in caseanyone or more of the punches may, during the operating of the machine, :yield its precisely true alignment even though-extremely slightly, fouling results, and

there is immediately the necessity of removing the said pad, and of correcting the alignment of such punch or punches'as have become deflected.

The .punchbei-ngfitted and; made fast rigidly in the socket thereiiortinathe metal which constitutes said, pad, the job of restoring to precise alignment," thepunch which has become deflected has long been-a problem andl am not aware that there has heretofore been designed an implement by which said aligning of the punch can be practicably accomplished. Whereas a procedure of swaging, as by a cold chisel or by a center punch, of the metal of the pad adjacent to the shank of the punch has hitherto been resorted to, experience has taught that in such a procedure the contour of the socket usually is distorted to such "extent that the grip'of the shank of the punch-is rendered insufficiently tenacious. As a result, the afiected punch, after a relatively short period of machine operation, again yields its true position of alignment.

My invention is based upon the idea that, if the metal which is displaced by manually'applying an implement thereto, may be displaced in such manner that the planiform contour of the mass immediately at the shank-of the punch :may be not. impaired, the-rigid and dependable-retention of the punch in the precise position to which it is aligned is assured.

To provide an. implement vof formation :and function so that in its use manually, thev metal of the pad, in an .arcuate area thereof :closely adjacent to the shank aofrthe punchmayzbecdisplaced-randat the same time compressed to; metal to. metal unionwiththe wa'llof the :punch shank, is the specifica-imofmy invention.

-My invention isiembodiediin .thernewlyrdevised implement described in the following specification, defined in the'claims,,.and-illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Figure l lis a side view: of my improved alignin implement, a portion thereof being shown in cross section.

Figure2 is a topplan view in- .thewdirectionof arrow, 2 in Figural.

Figure 3 is an enlarged bottomplan:viewin the direction of arrow 3 in-Figure 1.

Figure i is an enlarged sideview of the working end portion of the implement,; in .the zdirection of arrow-lin-Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross section plan view, on the broken line-5--5 inFigure-l.

Figure 6 is a vertical centralt'sectional view taken on the broken line .-6-6 inthe direction of arrow v6 in Figure-5.

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic viewindicating the appearance of a conventional --die structure equipped @With a pad carrying a plurality of punches, for example, afour, two of which 'are' spaced closelyadjacent :to-eachwother.

Figure 8 is a top plan viewrtaken-on the broken line 3-8 in Figure 7.

Figure 9- is a diagrammatic-view indicative of the appearance of the-punch pad afterzit will have been removed from the die structure. and disposed in inverted position on the workers bench.

A major segmental portion 2| of the open end of the bar is cut away, as at an angle of about fifteen degrees to the right angle transverse plane of the end of the bar. The lesser segmental portion 23 of said open end of the bar, I designate as the working end of the bar. (See Figure 3.) It is of rounded formation in cross section (see Figure 6). The working edge 25 thus provided is blunt in cross section, is of about ninety degrees extent in planiform curvature, and is concentric with the bore of the implement.

On the exterior surface of the wall of the implement, in the portion thereof opposite to the perpendicular of the working edge 25 of the implement, is a sight which consists of an indented line 2! which is coincident with the longitudinal central plane that bisects the said working edge25.

Preliminarily to using the implement, for example, in an instance wherein the affected punch is a part of equipment such as is indicated in Figure 7, the operator disposes the pad P (which will have been removed from the die structure, as is the practice when a punch will have become tilted from true alignment) in inverted position on the bench, as indicated in Figure 9. He now places a chalk mark 32 at a location on the surface of the pad immediately near the affected punch 3!, which has become obliquely inclined to the pad. That is to say: inclined slightly from the perpendicular (see broken line in Figure 10). The said mark 32 is to indicate to the operator, the direction toward which the punch is to be tilted in order to restore it to perpendicular alignment.

The operator now lowers the implement (the punch being received in the bore 16 of the implement) to position with its working edge 25 engaged with the surface of the pad, seeing to it that the sight line 21 of the implement is in line with the chalk mark 32. Then, by a hammer blow applied to the head of the implement while said implement is held in the position above described, the working edge 25 is caused to indent the metal of the pad at the area thereof diametrically pposite to said mark 32, and thereby to displace a portion of said metal in an arcuate area 34 (see Figure 11) that is immediately near to and is concentric with the socket 35 and is concentric with the shank of the punch that is secured in said socket. Said displacement being, as it is, in the direction of and concentric with the united surfaces of the said socket and shank, the uniformity of the metal-to-metal union of the said socket and shank is not disturbed. At the same time, the pressure of the metalso displaced and crowded by the implement against the punch shank is such as to tilt the punch from its deflected position, to aligned position, and to rigidly hold it in the aligned position.

It will be understood of course that the usual resurfacing of the obverse side of the pad P is had to remove protrusion of any portion of the surface of the foot end 37 of any punch which will have had to be aligned.

The effect of said working edge 25 of the implement when impinged as above described upon the metal of the pad, being certain, positive and dependable, and the punch being sensitively responsive to the displacement of the metal at the socket 35, the artizan is enabled to readily measure the amount of force suitable to be applied to the head of the implement in repeated hammer blows, to cause the punch to be transposed from the inclined position, to the desired perpendicular position. The implement being concentric with the punch, it is capable of being used effectively in instances where the punches are closely spaced (for example as indicated by the closely spaced punches indicated in Figure 7 and where the distance between the punches may be as slight as little more than the width of the wall of the implement.

The punch, at which the implement is applied, serving, as it does, to sustain the implement in upright position, the operator, in poising the implement, is concerned solely with the technique of properly locating the working edge 25 with regard to the direction in which the punch is to be crowded.

It will be understood that in supplying implements according to'my invention, the diameter of the bore of each implement is dictated by the diameter of the punch to which it is to be applied. Also it will be understood that modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as it is defined in the claims, without de- 1parting from the spirit or principle of the invenion.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An implement of the kind described, consisting of a bar of tool steel hardened and tempered, the working portion thereof being tubular and having inside diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the punch to which the implement is to be applied, a greater segmental portion of the rim of the working end of said bar being cut away, and the remaining segmental portion of said rim being rounded in cross section, and constituting an arcuate and blunt Working edge that is concentric with the internal face of said bar.

2. Same as claim 1, plusand there being a sight line on the exterior surface of said bar eX- tending from the plane of the center of said working edge and in parallelism with the longitudinal axis of said bar.

3. A punch aligning implement consisting of a tubular metal bar, a greater segmental portion of the rim of the bottom of said bar being cut away to constitute the remaining segmental portion an arcuate working edge, the plane of said working edge being at a right angle to a plane that is parallel with the plane of the longitudinal axis of the bar, and said working edge being of rounded formation in cross section.

JOY E. PENROD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 843,344 Linderman Feb. 5, 1907 1,781,863 Shoemaker Nov. 18, 1930 1,881,787 Mample Oct. 11, 1932 1,936,783 Chase Nov. 28, 1933 2,031,977 Olsen Feb. 25, 1936 

